This was a day of mainly driving the 320 kms to Kings Canyon. Along the way we saw quite a bit of camel dung on the road, but despite looking, we didn’t see a wild camel. We did see some in some yards and a paddock at Kings Creek Station as we drove past.
As we neared Kings Canyon, we started to see a range of hills, which is the George Gill Range.
The site we were allocated at the resort had a good view of the range.
Once we had unhitched and set up we hopped in the ute and drove out to Kings Canyon to do the short Kings Creek Walk. There is an interesting structure at the start giving lots of information about the difficulties of the walks and precautions to take in extreme heat. For the first time in our trip, it was rather warm, reaching 29 degrees C.
This is what it said about the little walk we were going to undertake.
The main walk people do is the Rim Walk. Just a little different.
You walk past the start of the Rim Walk on your way to the creek walk. The sun was in a poor spot, but you can see the start of the 500 uneven steps you have to climb to get to the plateau.
The walk we did followed the creek bed. Once again, I was surprised at the composition of the gorge. This was sandstone, but unlike Uluru, it was thin layers on top of each other,
There were some lovely white trunked river red gums along the way.
We came across another new to us plant - the holly grevillea.
At the end of the walk there was a viewing platform looking further into the gorge.
There were some cute little bronze sculptures of birds at the viewing platform.
Overall, the walk wasn’t as picturesque as we had expected, but enjoyable all the same.
I had been feeling that there was an expectation for me to complete the Rim Walk and I wasn’t confident that I would cope well with the climb of all those steps. The worst thing is that it is a one way track, so there is no turning back, as the steps are more dangerous to descend than ascend. It seemed that everyone you met had completed it and said how hard it was. It was really worrying me. In the end I just said to Mick that I was staying at the caravan park while he went for the walk. I hate myself for not having the fitness, as I had plenty of time to prepare in the lead up to the trip, and if it had been three years ago I would have been fine, but that is how it is. Once I had announced my decision and explained my reasoning I felt a weight lift off my shoulders. I will do what walks I feel comfortable doing and enjoy those.
The Resort advertises that it has 4G internet for Telstra and Optus, but in reality, that is not true. Your phone sometimes shows four bars and sometimes none. At all times you are unable to even make a phone call, let alone access anything online. Occasionally the phone would beep as a text came through, but you couldn’t send one. Rather frustrating, as every other place of any consequence has had surprisingly good coverage.
In the late afternoon we sat outside, and as we had no internet, I got out some stitching. It seems to be about the only time I do get it out. Anyway, I completed the stitching on my first hexy flower for the Blue Quilt. Only 15 to go.
There is a sunset viewing platform at the resort, complete with a cute little yellow caravan, which is not a coffee van, rather it is a bar. There is also live music for an hour and a half by Will Jameson of The Vultures. Rather a civilised way to watch the sun go down.
Mick had to try a couple of local Alice Springs beers. The cans are rather pretty.
We sat with a couple who had set up their van next to us and had an enjoyable time with them. Towards the end we also caught up with the young lady we had met at the Uluru sunset the previous evening, which was nice.
The sunset was OK too.
We’re making a habit of this. Not an ABC (another bloody church/cathedral/castle), but an ABS (another bloody sunset) tour. It is always a nice way to finish the day.
The evening was nice enough for Mick to barbecue some nice little marinated lamb steaks for dinner. Very tasty.
Finally, after dinner, I completed another hexy flower - 14 to go.
The highlight of the day for me was the different geology of the canyon and the holly grevillea. For both our us it was the nice chat with our neighbours.
No comments:
Post a Comment